Hayek

This study traces Hayek's intellectual formation in Austrian economics and English liberalism. It analyzes the main themes of his thought, such as the idea of a market order, the limits of government and his critiques of socialism and conservatism, and assesses Hayek's account of liberalism.

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Hayek has been one of the key liberal thinkers of the 20th century. His work has crossed disciplines - economics, philosophy, political science - and national boundaries. He was an early critic of Keynes, and became famous in the 1940s for his warnings that the advance of collectivism in Western democracies was the road to serfdom. He was a key figure in the post-war revival of classical liberalism and achieved much notoriety and some political influence in the 1970s and 1980s. This book traces Hayek's intellectual formation in Austrian economics and English liberalism. It then analyzes the main themes of his thought, such as the idea of a market order, the limits of government and his critiques of socialism and conservatism, and assesses the originality and internal coherence of Hayek's account of liberalism, as well as his contribution to policy debate.